Arsenal vs Palace Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man + Predicted Score

Arsenal welcome Crystal Palace to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon looking to reclaim top spot in the Premier League.

The Gunners dropped to second following Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at Southampton with Manchester City climbing to the summit with a 5-1 thrashing of Spurs the following night.

However, with City facing third-placed Chelsea on Monday, the north Londoners will be hoping to take advantage of their two closest rivals playing each other by collecting all three points on Sunday.

The slip up in midweek saw our impressive run of seven straight victories in all competitions come to an end so Arsene Wenger will be keen to get back to winning ways tomorrow.

We’ll face a Palace side that look revitalised under Tony Pulis and successive victories have seen the Eagles rise off the foot of the table. However, with both Cardiff and West Ham winning on Saturday, the pressure will be on them to pick up a result as they are now just a single point off the relegation zone.

Team News

Mathieu Flamini starts his three match suspension after being sent off against Southampton. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will have to fill in alongside Mikel Arteta with both Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey injured.

The fit again Tomas Rosicky could replace Serge Gnabry on the right as the youngster has started our last four games and may need a breather.

Kieran Gibbs is expected to be recalled at left-back but new signing Kim Kallstrom won’t be available as he wasn’t registered in time but it’s also come to light that we signed him knowing he had a back injury that’s now ruled him out for about a month.

Palace are sweating on the fitness of defender Danny Gabbidon, who’s struggling with a knock. Johnathan Parr is on stand-bye to come in.

Midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi is out and he joins Jerome Thomas and Glenn Murray on the sidelines. Palace won’t be able to call upon the services of new signings  Tom Ince or Scott Dann as they weren’t registered in time.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Santi Cazorla: The Spaniard has regained his form in recent weeks after a slow start to the season and has now scored four in his last four games. His link-up play with Ozil is going to be vital tomorrow to unlock the Palace back line.

Betting & Predicted Score

The visitors defence has tightened up considerably in recent weeks and we all know Pulis will come with a certain game plan to frustrate us, but I think we’ll have enough in attack to get the job done. My No.1 betting tip is to back Arsenal to win without conceding, which you can find at odds of 5/1. Do you research and make sure you find the best available odds and look for website’s that offer sports bet offers from UK bookies as you can pick up some great bonuses. Our predicted score is Arsenal 2-0 Crystal Palace which currently has odds of 6/1, but throw in Olivier Giroud as an anytime scorer as well for tempting odds of 10/1.

What team do you think we should play and what’s your predicted score? Share your views below.